“The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”
By Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
 Based on the title, what
do you think this poem is
going to be about…
 (You must write down 1
opinion, in order to get
full credit).

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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noted as the most popular
American poet of the 19th
century.
His poetry and narrative
works are lyrical with an
easy rhythm, making them
memorable.
Uplifting with topics the
"every man" can relate to,
Longfellow's poetry hums
in people's minds like a
favorite song.
His Life
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Born in Maine.
One of his grandfathers was a state Senator and the
other grandfather had been a Revolutionary War
general and a Congressman.
On 7/13/1843 Longfellow married Francis Elizabeth
"Fanny" Appleton (1817-1861) with whom he would
have six children
1861 Fanny’s dress suddenly caught fire from a
candle & she was engulfed in flames.
Henry suffered from depression from that point on.
“The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”
The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveler hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore.
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
“The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”
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
Speaker of the
Poem:
~ Middle-Aged to
Older Man
(probably the poet)
Voice of the
Speaker:
~ 3rd Person
Mood & Tone
 Mood:
~Reminiscen
t
 Tone:
~ Soothing
Three examples of the
Mood & Tone from
this poem: (you must
have all 3 to get your
credit)…
1. “The traveler hastens
toward the town,”
2. “Efface the footprints
in the sands,”
3. “And the tide rises,
the tide falls.”

Audience
 Him-self
Main Message / Theme
 Subject:
the cycle
of life &
nature

Theme: Even
through sorrow
& desolation
surrounds
death, life
continues on
its normal
cycle.
Poem Form & Meter
Romantic
Poem: looking
at nature to
sooth the soul
 three stanzas of
five lines each.
 The rhyme
scheme for the
entire poem is
aabba aacca
aadda
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repetition of the
same refrain at the
end of each stanza.
creates an consistent
repitition creating
the impression of an
unchanging natural
world.
Each line has from
seven to ten
syllables.
Meter is Iambic
Tetrameter
Literary Elements
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Personification: give something NON-HUMAN,
human like characteristics…
~ “The little waves, with their soft, white hands /
Efface the footprints…”
Alliteration: the repetition of consonate sounds at
the beginning of words
~ “…the curlew calls;”
~ “…the sea-sands…”
Symbol: something that stands for itself &
something larger at the same time.
~The tide rising & falling is a symbol for the
cycle of life.
Shifts in the Poem’s
Tone/Message
None
Present!
“The Cross of Snow”
 Based
on this title,
what do you think this
poem will be about?
~I think that this poem
will be about….
“The Cross of Snow”
In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face -- the face of one long dead -Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died; and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes.
“The Cross of Snow”
Speaker of the
Poem: the
Poet: Henry
Wadsworth
Longfellow.
 Voice of
Speaker:
~ 1st Person : I

Mood & Tone
 Mood:
Reminiscent
 Tone: Full
of Guilt /
Remorseful
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Examples from the
Poem:
1. “Here in this
room she died”
2. “A gentle face –
the face of one long
dead –”
3. “Looks at me
from the wall…”
Audience
Fanny
Himself
Main Message / Theme
 Theme:
 Subject:
Somethings in
struggling life are too
to
horrible to ever
overcome overcome, so
we must find a
grief
way to cope.
Poem Form & Meter
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Romantic Poem:
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looking at nature to
help cope with a loss
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THIS IS A
SONNET!
~ this poem is an
Italian sonnet
~ a sonnet is a poem
made up of 14 lines 
where there is an
obvious break at line
9 (in Italian Sonnets)
Each line of has
about syllables.
The meter is
Iambic
Pentameter
(famous in
sonnets)
Rhyme Scheme:
abba / abba / cde
/ cde
Literary Elements
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Symbol: something that stands for itself
& something larger at the same time.
~The cross of snow on the mountain &
the cross on his chest both symbolize a
badge of icy pain & grief the speaker
wears
~Just like the cross of snow on the
mountain side, the speaker’s grief will
never melt or decrease.
Literary Elements
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Hyperbole: A figure of speech in which
exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect
(often simile or metaphor).
~ “Never through martyrdom of fire was led /
To its repose; nor can in books be read / The
legend of a life more benedight.
~ implies that no one has ever hidden the
goodness of his wife, saying that there has
“never” been a soul more white or a life as
blessed
Literary Elements
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Metaphor: a comparison of 2 unlike things
NOT using the words as, like, than, or
resembles.
~The metaphor in the sestet (6 Lines) compares
a literal cross of un-melted snow on a
mountainside to the figurative cross of grief &
pain the speaker wears on his chest. This grief,
like the cross of snow, is “sun-defying” and
“deep” because it cannot be melted or erased by
any ray of happiness.
Shift in Tone
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No major shift in tone
A major shift occurs between lines 8 & 9,
shifting the focus between the octave and
the sestet as is typical in an Italian sonnet.
The octave focuses on the speaker’s
sleeplessness & his memories of his wife,
the sestet on the literal & symbolic
crosses of snow worn by the mountain &
the speaker.
The End